Message from Jake

I was a schoolmaster and I coached against some brilliant schools coaches who, if given the right exposure and opportunities, could well have a professional career in coaching. This course is the first step to giving them an opportunity to learn but to also show off their talent, but more than that it will add a further dimension to schools rugby overall and entrench South Africa as the best schoolboy rugby nation. We have fantastic schools players, but we also have very talented schools coaches.

You only have to go to the schools rugby festivals that are on this week to appreciate how healthy the schoolboy game is, but speaking from my own experience as a rugby schoolmaster, the opportunities to improve oneself as a coach haven’t always been there. I keep on hearing we don’t have the intellectual capital in this country, but that’s crazy when you see what we have achieved at all levels of our rugby.